I was reading a post by Teresa Boardman, a Keller Williams REALTOR in St. Paul, Minn. It reminded my that real estate may be local but some phenomena are uviversal. Take falling prices, for instance. Teresa writes about falling prices of homes in her area. She mentions a house that was formerly listed for $200,000 that is now listed for $108,000. This house has been foreclosed upon and is owned by the lender who is now trying to sell it and get it off the books. Now a reduction of $92,000 is BIG, but a reduction of 46% is HUGE.

And that is where real estate becomes local, again.

I represented a buyer who closed escrow on his new house about a week ago. That house was listed last last August for $1,225,000. The house did not sell after being on the market for 90 days and despite a price reduction to $1,175,000. The listing expired and the house came off the market.

 In February, a new broker listed the house for sale at $1,049,950. My client, who had seen the house in November, before the original listing expired. Made an offer and bought the house for $980,000. The purchase price was $245,000 less that the original listed price from six months prior.